All characters except for Annabelle Causley and a few others belong to Stephenie Meyer…and, of course, the writer is not receiving any profit for this story whatsoever.

This is an AU out of Stephenie Meyers' Twilight series. This story starts after Eclipse, two weeks before Edward and Bella's wedding.

AN: Thank you for the reviews!

Chapter Fourteen

The sun tainted the blue sky a bloody red with golden streaks, painting a beautiful picture behind the mountain backdrop. Annabelle stared sightlessly at that sight, holding a flat box on her lap.

They had returned from their Chicago trip the night before and Annabelle couldn't help but feel more conflicted than before they left. She had found letters, diaries, pictures…but the one thing that would make her bleed if she could was that flat box on her lap.

She closed her eyes as she stood up, walking across the room and gently placing the box on top of her desk, not willing to open it, knowing full well it would contain all her hopes and dreams…hopes and dreams she no longer had.

Running her fingers over the old box, she bit her lip before turning away and walking out of her room. She couldn't stand being near that box…


Edward stretched luxuriously as he laid in the meadow, his head on Bella's lap. It was a beautiful evening, the sun painting a glorious sunset that he was enjoying. He sighed as Bella ran her fingers through his hair, keeping his eyes closed to enjoy the way her fingers made his entire body hum in pleasure.

"You and Annabelle haven't talked since you got back from Chicago," Bella's soft voice filled Edward's head. He opened his eyes and looked up at her, smiling that crooked smile she loved.

"There's nothing to talk about," he reached up to touch his fingers to her lips, "She found what she was looking for…as for me, I'm just glad I was there for her. Don't worry Bella…it's done and over with. Now all we have to do is wait out the three days before our wedding and live our happily ever after."

"Is she going to be okay," Bella looked towards the Cullens home, her face clouded with concern, "She seems unusually quiet and reserved."

Edward sat up, turning to pull Bella into his arms, "I love that you're concerned for her." He kissed her lips, running his hand through her hair, breathing deeply as the breeze carried her scent his way, "It's going to take her some more time to find this closure you insist she needs. But one thing for sure, it's no longer about the feelings she had for me but about what was taken away from her."

"So you found your closure concerning your feelings for her," Bella looked up into his golden eyes, her brown eyes filled with apprehension.

Edward dipped his head to press his lips against her, his hand on the back of her head to hold it in place as he deepened the kiss before pulling back, "Yes…but then again, I had closure over Annabelle long before this trip…in fact, from the moment I fell in love with you, I stopped regretting what could have been. I can't imagine my life without you or with someone other than you. Everything I am belongs to you –past, present and future."

Bella smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed him gently, pouring all her love for him into this one kiss. She realized that even though Annabelle was not in the same place as Edward, she could be certain that Edward had moved beyond that. Edward loved her with his entire being and Bella felt a certain liberation knowing that his love fully belonged to her…


Annabelle stopped, her eyes searching the shadows cast by the trees. Someone was following her. Breathing deeply, she felt slightly uncomfortable when she didn't pick up a scent. Turning around, she scanned the area before continuing her hike into the mountains.

She was tracking a cougar she had smelled a couple of miles outside of Forks. Silently slipping through the trees, she smiled as the scent got stronger…the cougar had stopped somewhere up ahead, either to drink or rest, she did not know. All she knew was that dinner was about to be served…

Annabelle sat next to a clear lake, dipping her small feet into the cold water, her eyes trained on the star studded sky above her as she leaned back on her arms, her long blue-black hair falling over her shoulders and onto the forest ground like a black waterfall.

A feeling of hopelessness filled her, causing her to curl up into a fetal position as she wondered what the purpose of her life was. She knew Edward would never be hers again and knew she couldn't keep him tied to her by nurturing the feelings she had for him, but without those feelings, she was nothing but a hollow husk, an empty body with no soul. For so long, Edward had been her soul, the reason she continued to be Annabelle Causley and not the power hungry monster Aro had tried to turn her into.

Now, letting go of him meant having to find a new center, a new reason for being. She was going to have to reinvent herself in the sense of existing for her and not Edward. Could she do it?

She closed her eyes as she recalled their time in the Masen's attic, after Annabelle had found the trunks that had been mailed from Italy.

Opening the forest green trunk that had been hers, Annabelle waved her hand before her face as the thick dust rose up into a cloud, momentarily affecting her vision. Edward leaned over her shoulder, beaming his flashlight into the trunk.

Annabelle reached in, pulling out the first thing her fingers wrapped around. It was a bundle of old letters tied with a faded pink satin ribbon. Annabelle smiled as she realized these were letters to her written by Edward.

"You kept all my letters," Edward took the bundle from her hand, placing them on his lap as he pulled the ribbon free. Picking a random letter, he carefully opened it, the paper brittle and yellowed by age. Annabelle settled next to him as he moved the flash light over the letter; both were struggling to make out the faded words.

Annabelle smiled as she realized this was one of the first letters Edward had sent her when he started courting her. The Causley's had lived further south of Chicago and since Edward spent a good amount of his time helping his father with the family business, they hadn't had the opportunity to see each other a whole lot. For that reason, they did most of their courting through letters, occasionally visiting each other every other week.

Taking the letters from Edward, Annabelle quickly tied them up with the sating ribbon, not wanting to read his past words of love and adoration.

"You took them to Italy with you," Edward watched Annabelle as she set the letters back into the trunk. Annabelle turned to look at him, arching her eyebrow in mock surprise, "Of course I did. That way, whenever I missed you terribly, I could re-read them. It always felt like you were right there with me."

Edward smiled as he leaned into the trunk, pulling out a cloth wrapped object. Setting it down on the floor between them, he moved aside the cloth to reveal a leather bound book, faded gold letters engraved in the cover: The Diary of Annabelle Causley.

"You gave me this for my sixteenth birthday, remember," Annabelle picked up the book, carefully opening it, her eyes scanning the first page:

16 March 1915

Dear Diary,

You were a gift from Edward for my sixteenth birthday. I can't believe he remembered how I always kept a diary when I was a little girl. After he left, I went looking for those old diaries and started reading through them. It made me laugh how in almost every entry, I mention Edward. Obviously, that won't change.

Diary, I love him so much. He says he loves me too and I believe him. I've grown up with him and it is amazing to know that he has finally fallen in love with me…I've been in love with him since forever. I'm glad I am not alone anymore and that there's a promise for a future toge –

Annabelle closed the diary, setting it aside as she reached into the trunk. Pulling out a small velvet bag, she knew what it held. Looking at Edward, she opened the drawstrings and turned the bag upside down, spilling a gold chain with a heart shaped locket into his hand. He had given her that locket before she left with her parents for Italy, a token to remind her of him and his promises while she was away.

Edward lifted the locket from his hand, brushing his thumb across the surface of it. He had gotten the locket engraved with their initials…Annabelle and Edward. Sighing, he closed his hand over the locket before returning it to the velvet bag and handing it to Annabelle. He watched with interest as she placed it back into the trunk without looking at it.

Leaning into the trunk, she shoved clothes aside until she finally reached what she wanted from the bottom of the trunk. Pulling out a long flat box, she fell back on her haunches, keeping the box in her hands.

"What's that," Edward looked curiously at Annabelle, trying to decipher the look in her face.

"Nothing of interest to you," Annabelle set the box beside her, away from Edward. She didn't want him opening the box…she didn't want the box opened period. Taking the diary from the dusty floor, she wrapped it up in its cloth and placed it back in the trunk, closing the lid with a resounding bang. Standing up, Annabelle took the box and turned to Edward. He was already standing beside her, waiting to see what Annabelle wanted to do next.

"I'd like to see my parents," Annabelle looked deep into Edward's golden eyes, her face expressing the well of sadness in her. Edward nodded as he headed out of the attic, Annabelle behind him.

He knew, without a doubt, that something was bound to change. He knew Annabelle well enough to know she was very close to her breaking point, he just didn't know what that would result in...